A lot of sea stories begin with "This is a no-shitter" but I swear this is true!
Many moons ago, when I was a green kid of maybe 19 years old, 1992/1993-ish, I was stationed on the USS Canopus AS34, a submarine tender that was homeported in King's Bay, GA. It was decommissioned in 1994 and scrapped in 2010, but that's another sad story (and video - it's on YouTube).
Onboard a US Navy ship, all hands are responsible for the safety of the ship. Which means there are regular drills held to make sure everyone knows what to do if an emergency happens.
photo source
(I also have a postcard of this same shot)
The pier in Kings Bay.
One
day, there was a "hazardous material" spill on the quarterdeck. Myself
and another junior sailor where sent to get a spill kit on the double.
There was one located in a passageway several decks below the
quarterdeck. We raced down the steep ladders and threw open the door to
the passageway where the kit was located.
I always wondered about what could have happened.
It was many years later when the wonders of the Interwebz made research easy, I found all sorts of interesting articles that shed light on what Maxwell & I experienced that day.
photo source
this link also has some interesting first-hand stories from guys who'd been on the subs alongside when the fire happened.
The passageway where the spillkit was located was (unbeknownst to us poor kids!) in the brig area.
In a nutshell, 2 sailors who had been unhappy with life on the ship went UA (the Navy version of AWOL) and had been charged with assault & battery by Scottish civilian law enforcement and returned to the ship to be detained. They and their guard were overcome by smoke.
The articles say there was an investigation about how the fire broke out, but I didn't find what the results were.
Maybe when the ship was finally scrapped those spirit(s) were set free.
It was many years later when the wonders of the Interwebz made research easy, I found all sorts of interesting articles that shed light on what Maxwell & I experienced that day.
this link also has some interesting first-hand stories from guys who'd been on the subs alongside when the fire happened.
In a nutshell, 2 sailors who had been unhappy with life on the ship went UA (the Navy version of AWOL) and had been charged with assault & battery by Scottish civilian law enforcement and returned to the ship to be detained. They and their guard were overcome by smoke.
The articles say there was an investigation about how the fire broke out, but I didn't find what the results were.
Maybe when the ship was finally scrapped those spirit(s) were set free.
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